Four into Five

[plonq]

One of the few highlights of my work day on Mondays is having three days on my Mensa calendar waiting for me when I come to work. Saturday's puzzle was to turn FOUR into FIVE in seven steps. I've seen harder word ladders in my time, and I managed to solve this one in a couple of minutes.


I came up with:
FOUR
FOUL
FOOL
FOOD
FOND
FIND
FINE
FIVE

Their solution was:
FOUR
FOUL
FOOL
FOOT
FORT
FORE
FIRE
FIVE

tomato/tomahto


Can any of you clever folk out there cut that to six steps? Five? (I'd work on it myself, but so many reports blew up here on the weekend I'm surprised that I didn't find a smoking ruin where the office used to be.)

They believe in the tooth fairy and want to destory the world.

Comments

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

I got this by seeking out not-so-common words. I think it must be the only way to get six.

FOUR
DOUR
DORR - dorbeetle
DORE - wall-eyed perch, usually doré
DOVE/DIRE/FORE
DIVE/FIRE
FIVE

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

Wait, this is a little better:

FOUR
TOUR
TORR - a unit of pressure
TORE
TIRE
FIRE
FIVE